On a recent trip to Barotse Tiger Camp In Zambia I decided that I was going to dedicate a fair bit of time to catching tigerfish on surface lures. My mate Gerard Simpson, who is one of the co-owners of the camp told me that they had been having some success with tigers on the surface in the early mornings. This was great news and I rigged one rod specifically for topwater lure fishing.

The rod that I used was a Shimano Beastmaster Special Tiger, with a Shimano Stella 5000 reel, loaded with 20lb Power Pro Super 8 Slick braid on it. I had tied on a 1m piece of 50lb Sufix Zippy leader and added a 40lb nylon coated wire trace of about 30cm with a quick release snap on the end. I decided to use the 9cm Rapala X-Rap Walk, rigged with single hooks. I used a 2/0 VMC Siwash hook on the belly, using two split rings linked together to make the hook ride point down. On the back I used a 3/0 Decoy Jigging Single, which I had modified slightly by bending the hook point out a little with a pair of pliers. I rigged this with on two splitrings with a power swivel between them, to give it lots of freedom of movement. See the pic below for the rigged lure:

 

We headed onto the water the following morning before sunrise and were able to make the most of the lovely still conditions. The water, being warmer than the air gave off a light mist and the sunrise was spectacular as it always is on the Zambezi.

We drifted along the banks, right below where the boats were parked overnight. We were casting the lures into every inlet, creek and and eddy formed by the current along the banks, and of course around any tree stucture. We started of getting a lot of small fish boiling and smashing at the lures, as they zig zagged accross the surface. Most of these small fish missed the lures completely, but we hooked and landed a few. Gerard then went tight with a good fish, which smashed his lure aggressively after darting out from a fallen tree trunk near the bank. After a hard fight he landed an 11lb tiger on his Orange and yellow Rapala Skitter Walk.

What a beautiful fish, and the early morning light made the fins look blood red, spectacular stuff!

I then got a nice 8lb fish, which smashed my lure like a monster, and fought like its life depended on it, but didn’t crack the double figure mark on the Boga Grip. Still very enjoyable though, and nothing to sniff at. A bit later Gerard had another massive smash on his Purple and white Skitter Walk, and was in business agian. This time with a 12lb tiger. I was super stoked to see this one, as I now knew that the first wasn’t just a flash in the pan. It was just a matter of time before I would get one.

The sun had got higher and the surface action slowed down, and around 10am we decided to change over to some copper spoons. I was working my spoon deep and slow over some undulations and drop offs in the middle of the river and was rewarded with a hard strike and a good fight, before landing this 13lb tiger. A lovely fish, which made me happy, but I was till hoping for a ten pound plus fish on the surface.

The following morning we were out on the water again at sparrows. Conditions were just as perfect as the previous day and I was feeling confident that this was going to be the day that I would get my PB tiger on surface lure. Again we started off with plenty of interest from smaller fish, and I landed anbout three or four fish between four and six pounds, before my lure was engulfed in a massive smash, and my rod pulled flat. The fish jumped from the water and it was clear that it was over ten pounds when we saw it airborne. My heart was in my mouth as I fought the fish, praying that the hooks would stay in. Sure enough I got it to the boat and Gerard netted an 11lb tiger for me.

I was super stoked, and couldn’t get the smile off my face. About twenty minutes later there was a gigantic smash on my lure and the fish unfortunately missed. I quickly retrieved it back and flicked it back to the same spot and started working it. Three twitches and the water was turned to froth as a huge tiger smashed the lure on the top, her whole back coming out of the water as she hit. She jumped spectacularly three times, each time my heart almost stopped as I expected to see the lure come flying back at me, but she stayed on and I finally brought her to the side of the boat. She weighed 15lb on the boga grip and was an absolutely magnificent fish.

Below are some pics of us reviving her in the water:

I got another fish of 12lb on the X-Rap Walk the following morning

So in all it had been a very succesful trip, with some really quality fish landed on surface lure. I am quite sure that this form of fishing for tigers will gain popularity, as it is nothing short of spectacular to see one of these aggressive predators smash a lure on the surface with serious intent. Interestingly I had a Nembwe also attack my lure on the surface, but sadly did not hook up. I would have loved to chalk up one of the bream species on a surface lure. I had caught a catfish on a Rapala Skitter pop worked on the top before, which was also an unusual catch.  See the picture below;